Parents Of Teen Who Allegedly Brought Loaded Gun To School Accused Of Hiding Evidence

The parents of a Missouri teenager who allegedly brought a gun to a school were charged on Thursday after officials say the two adults hid the boy’s backpack full of ammunition in the mother’s home after their son was arrested.

Terry Thompson and Traci Thompson were identified by multiple local news outlets as the parents of the teen in custody on Tuesday after police allege he planned shootings at multiple schools in the Ritenour School District.

A spokesperson for the St. Ann Police Department confirmed to HuffPost that the suspect was 16 years old and not a current Ritenour School District student.

The parents were both charged with tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution, according to a criminal complaint obtained by HuffPost.

St. Ann police said in a Facebook post on the St. Ann Neighborhood Watch page, an official account run by the department, that they received information on Tuesday from another student’s grandmother that the 16-year-old had made threats against the Ritenour School District on social media.

The teen was located at one of the schools with a fully loaded gun, according to police. Police say that when authorities approached, he attempted to flee and tossed his gun.

He was arrested about a block from the school, according to NBC affiliate KSDK.

The parents were reportedly present when the teen was taken into custody, and according to the St. Ann Police Department post, they went back to the father’s home to take their son’s backpack full of ammunition and hid it in the mother’s home in an attempt to conceal it during the police investigation.

“This could have been some Uvalde situation. And we stopped that from happening,” St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez told local news station KMOV following the arrest.

According to the outlet, police recovered a fully loaded Glock handgun with an extended magazine from a recycling bin near Husky Academy, an alternative school for grades 5 through 12.

After their son was arrested, the parents were taken into custody on outstanding warrants and authorities executed a search warrant on both their homes, according to St. Ann police.

Police say the 16-year-old’s backpack found at the mother’s home “held multiple high-capacity magazines and ammunition.”

The teen remains in juvenile custody, police said. His parents’ criminal complaint stated he was charged with making a terroristic threat at a high school, unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest.

The parents are set to appear at St Louis County Court on Sept. 27 for a bond reduction hearing. Court records did not list an attorney representing the two.